• In a horrific incident near Hampi in Karnataka, a female Israeli tourist was gang-raped, as well as a 29-year-old Indian woman. One man was killed.
• Authorities have arrested two suspects, and the US State Department said it was “aware of reports that a US citizen was among a group of victims of violent crime”.
In a coordinated assault near the ancient village of Hampi in Karnataka, southern India, a 27-year-old Israeli female tourist was gang-raped near a UNESCO heritage site on India’s ‘hippy trail’. During the same attack, a 29-year-old Indian woman was raped, and one man was killed. The group of five individuals were stargazing by a river when they were targeted.
According to Indian media reports, the group was sitting and playing the guitar by a canal when three men on a motorbike approached them, asking for directions to a petrol station before demanding 100 rupees (£1).
Since the homestay operator did not know them, she told them they had no money. When the men repeatedly insisted, one of the male tourists from Odisha gave them 20 rupees. After that, the three men allegedly started arguing and threatened to bash their heads with stones,” police said.
Police Superintendent Ram Arasiddi told Reuters that the assailants pushed three male tourists—two Indians and one American—into the Tungabhadra River canal before raping the women. He added that two of the men, one of them American, survived, and the body of the third man was recovered on Saturday morning. Arasiddi stated that police have arrested two of the men accused of the attack and that an investigation is ongoing, with authorities believing the attackers followed the group.
The US State Department said it was “aware of reports that a US citizen was among a group of victims of violent crime” near Hampi.
